Prior clubs in which the shaft is moved forward toward the center of gravity of the club are shown in the following U.S. Patents.
However none of these provides a simple effective club with the advantages of the club of the present invention.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved golf club.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a golf club iron comprising:
a club head having a generally planar front face for impacting a ball, a rear face opposite to the front face, two sides, a top surface and a bottom surface;
the front face defining a horizontal top edge at the top surface and a horizontal bottom edge at the bottom surface;
the front face having an imaginary transverse line lying in the plane of the front face across the width of the face equidistant between the top and bottom edges;
the front face being symmetrical about an imaginary upright center line at right angles to the transverse line and equidistant between the sides so that the upright center line and the transverse center line intersect at an imaginary center point of the front face;
the club head defining an imaginary horizontal center line at right angles to the transverse line passing through the imaginary center point of the front face;
a tubular shaft hosel integrally attached to the rear face of the club head so that a front side of the hosel is integral with the rear face and supports the club head in front of the hosel;
a shaft attached to the hosel so that an axis of the tubular hosel at the club head is coaxial with an axis of the shaft;
the hosel being arranged on the club head so that the shaft extends at an angle less than ninety degrees to the transverse line which angle is arranged so that the club is intended to be swung in an iron driving action to cause impact;
the front face lying in a plane at an angle to a vertical plane containing the transverse line so as to provide a loft angle for driving the ball during impact;
the club head being shaped such that a center of gravity thereof lies substantially on said imaginary horizontal center line rearwardly of the front face;
the hosel being arranged so that the axis of the shaft and the hosel intersect the imaginary horizontal center line at a position reward of the center of gravity.
Preferably the angle of the shaft to the transverse line is less than 70 degrees.
Preferably the front face has a bottom edge which includes a central straight portion.
Preferably the front face has a top edge which includes a central straight portion.
Preferably the front face has ball engaging grooves parallel to the transverse line covering substantially the whole of the front face.
Preferably the club head is substantially triangular in side elevation with the front face and the rear face converging to the top surface which is narrower than the bottom surface.
Preferably the front face has side edges at the sides of the head each of which includes a straight portion intersecting the transverse line.
Preferably the straight portion of each side edge is connected to the bottom edge by a bottom curved section and to the top edge by a top curved section and wherein the bottom curved section has a greater radius of curvature than the top curved section.
The club provides the one or more of following features which are new and novel:
1) in view of the symmetrical location of the axis of the shaft which intersects the horizontal center line, this acts to minimize or eliminate club head twist at high and full swing speeds (60 to 130 mph.) caused by:
a) air friction on down swing
b) contact with grass or sand prior to contact with ball
c) head snap or twist at ball contact
2) the axis of shaft to intersecting the center line which contains or substantially contains the club head center of gravity provides most efficient transfer of energy (like a baseball bat).
3) The club face is balanced in both in weight and surface area about the center line so as to provide a balanced or symmetrical impact surface for both air flow and ball impact.
These three features should give better distance and ball control.
For each degree that the club head is off of perpendicular to the ball on contact, the ball travels approximately 0.628xe2x80x3 off course per yard of travel i.e. a 100 yard shot would be approximately 20 yards off track, or causes a slice or hook by spinning the ball.
Heal and toe shots are common terms used if the ball does not hit the sweet spot. With this club design there is a maximized sweet spot because the club is nearly 100% balanced. This is a balanced head design that is not triangular.
These clubs may not conform with PGA rules for club design. Manufacturers have made club heads larger and with perimeter weighting to make golf clubs have a larger xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d and make them more forgiving.
The drawings described hereinafter show designs for a 3 and 7 iron as typical examples, where:
a typical 3 iron has 19 to 20 degrees of loft; and
a typical 7 iron has 34 to 36 degrees of loft.
The intention is to provide all standard degrees of loft from a 1 to 9 iron as well as a pitching wedge, sand wedge and a lob wedge, that is, up to 65 degrees.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,524 includes data relating to the angles (table 1) for standard lie and loft angles, to which reference is made for further details in this regard.